


Virtual Hellhole

by what_would_gat_do



Category: Saints Row
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 09:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4014976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_would_gat_do/pseuds/what_would_gat_do
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny Gat was losing his mind. Or, how Johnny felt about being in a simulated cage for years on end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Virtual Hellhole

Johnny was losing his mind. Literally. 

Endless hours of fighting tooth and nail against generic gangsters in various garish colours. (He would punch anyone that mocked his Saints purple. Purple is not garish man, it’s awesome, classy.) How much time had passed? How many times had he tried and faild to beat that Zinyak motherfuckers’ sick game? He didn’t know. 

At first it had been fun. Fighting for someone he cared about was what made Johnny feel most alive. The blood that rushed through his veins when he knocked out another Ronin, the euphoric, primal feeling of winning a fight was what Johnny lived for. What he had always lived for. And to know that Eesh was waiting for him to save her? That only sweetened the deal. 

But then, after maybe two dozen times of watching the love of his life die because he wasn’t fast enough, before he had to start over from the beginning once again, Johnny started to think maybe he wasn’t meant to save her. Then he started to think. Maybe he couldn’t. Maybe something was stopping him from getting there in time, something making Jyunichi too strong to fall even after dozens of punches and kicks. 

After he started thinking, he also started remembering. Every few games, Johnny would feel himself become fairly lucid. Lucid enough to realise this shit wasn’t real. He’d remember a plane, and Shaundi and the Boss.

The Boss. 

How long had it been since he had seen Winston? He didn’t know. It could have been hours. It could have been months. It felt like centuries to Johnny. When Johnny wasn’t feeling the ache of simulated injuries or the ache of watching Aisha dying over and over, he was aching for the Saints. He missed them all so much. They could be dead for all he knew, while he was stuck in this fucking hellhole. 

It took some time, but eventually Zinyak seemed to realise that Johnny had become almost numb to what was supposed to be his ‘Personal Hell.’ When Zinyak realised this, he decided to add a different king of torture on top of what Johnny was already dealing with. Zinyak called them ‘Breaking News Reports.” This consisted of Zinyak interrupting Johnny’s brawling with little videos of what Zinyak insisted was happening to his loved ones without him around. He watched Shaundi break sown and become cold because of his ‘death.’ He watched Pierce become even more desperate to keep the whole crew sane and become even more depressed every time he was snapped at. But most of all he saw Winston

He watched Winston beaten to a pulp frequently. 

He watched Winston try to keep a group together when the guy could barely keep himself together.

He watched Winston whimper Johnny’s name in his sleep. 

Occasionally, Johnny would be shown the Boss with a kid, some Brit who couldn’t be more than twenty. It was innocent enough, simple touches and teasing playfully. But Johnny saw it for what it was. A crush. Zinyak really knew what would piss Johnny off the most, the fucker. 

But then there were days when Johnny lost all clear thoughts except to save Eesh, no matter what. He was preparing himself for a fight when someone dropped from the sky, Winston! Good, he finally had some back-up. They fought their way through all their enemies and Johnny was genuinely happy. They had to hurry though, if they wanted to save Eesh. The Boss kept spouting a load of shit but Johnny wasn’t listening. Couldn’t the Boss see he was a little preoccupied? 

They finally made it to Eeshs’ place. And thanks to Winston, he had finally saved Aisha. And just like that, Johnny remembered everything. Just in time for Johnny to finally lose his mind. Winston couldn’t really be here, it was impossible. Johnny was meant to stay in this horrible place forever, alone. But it must be him, Johnny would never have imagined Winston, he knew it would be the end of him, and there’s no way Zinyak would be able to make a copy, Johnny would certainly know the difference. 

Was he finally getting out of here? He nodded along to whatever the fuck the Boss was saying, overwhelmed. 

And then Winston asked the question; “So, are you with me?” 

Johnny almost cried with happiness and relief. Almost. 

“…….Yeah………..Yeah, I’m with you.”


End file.
